DENVER — The trade-deadline season commenced earlier than usual on Monday night, when the Royals shipped closer Kelvin Herrera to Washington for three prospects. The deal is unexpected only in its timing, and it offers a blueprint for what the Mets can expect should they seek to trade Jeurys Familia in the next six weeks.

Let’s look at what we can glean from the Herrera deal from a New York perspective.

1. The market starting this early probably doesn’t speed up the Mets’ timing.

Kansas City had no real plans to contend in 2018 at the start of the season, and the team has given the front office no doubt about its direction for the next three and a half months. The Royals need to rebuild, and it behooved them to extract as much value out of Herrera as possible.

The Mets entered this season in a fundamentally different position, believing they could contend in both the National League East and for a wild card. Although that...